YAC 2012 Application

Want to get involved and help make Botball better? You might want to join the Botball Youth Advisory Council! We're best described as the student government of Botball, and we are currently taking applications for our 2012 term.

Our projects have included the Botball Community website, the Botball Twitter and Facebook pages, better documentation for new Botball teams, the Live-Blog Challenge, Botball Live, video compilations of Botball events, interacting with the media, legislators, and industry to promote Botball, assisting KIPR with planning expansion and promotion of Botball, design and management of GCER student activities, and many other projects. You choose which projects you want to help with based on your skill set and interest set (contrary to popular myth, you actually don't have to be a crazy-awesome programmer or a crazy-awesome engineer). And we're always looking for new projects to undertake -- so bring your ideas, because if it makes Botball and GCER better, there's a good chance we're up for it!

One of our major projects (Botball Live) was featured as the top story on the front page of the NASA Robotics website in July 2011, so YAC definitely looks good on a resume. It's also a great opportunity (though certainly not required) to learn new skills, including in the areas of programming, video production, public relations, website management, social media, journalism, and of course leadership.

The 2012 Application is attached to this post.

Each applicant must have participated in Botball for at least 1 full year. Also, each candidate may not be younger than 8th grade or older than a senior in college; anybody older is encouraged to join KIPR Open however. Each candidate's application must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation by a current or former Botball team mentor, and the application must be emailed to botballyac@gmail.com by that mentor.

All applications will be read blindly to ensure fairness, and will be judged by all current YAC members.

Current YAC members should re-submit the same application from last year (updating your answers is okay but not required), and also submit a list of what you have accomplished as a member of the 3rd (2011) YAC.

We hope to have all regions adequately represented in the YAC in the 2012 term; ideally we would like to have at least 2 members from each region, including international (however, we will not disqualify you just because too many applicants were from your region). We therefore encourage members of all regions to apply!

As YAC is trying to expand its size, we are extending the YAC Application deadline to Saturday, December 3, 2011. Everyone who is interested in YAC is welcome to apply; in particular we are hoping for additional applicants in the following areas:

8th graders in any region.
High school students in the Austria, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Greater Los Angeles, Greater San Diego, Greater St. Louis, Hawaii, New Mexico, New York/New Jersey, Northern California, or Texas regions (or who are near enough to those regions to travel to those regional tournaments as YAC representatives).

Most mentors are reachable via e-mail; if you've tried e-mailing and are unable to reach your mentor, e-mail the YAC Mailbox at BotballYAC@gmail.com and we'll try to work something out.

The reason why teacher recommendations are no longer allowed is that we had issues where teachers who know nothing about Botball would be writing recommendations, which really didn't help us in the selection process. There was at least one specific case of a student whose recommendation was by a teacher who wasn't remotely familiar with Botball, whom we accepted on the basis of that recommendation, and whom we later regretted accepting.

That said, if you're having trouble reaching your Botball mentor, we'll try to work something out -- we don't want this to be too restrictive. :-) Just e-mail us if that's the case.